Images(4)

Trophy

Object number2025.16.2

Manufacturer L.G. Balfour Company

Date1960

OriginAttleboro, MA

MediumWood; Metal; Silver(?)

Credit LineGift of Mark Fallon

DescriptionWPIAL Rifle Team championship trophy. Rectangular wooden base. Vertical wooden backer mounted at rear of base; backer has central arch with two flanking shoulders. Front of backer has circular medallion at top with organizational emblem; bottom two corners each have metal (silver?) plate with engraved year and award information. Stepped rectangular wooden platform sits atop base at center and has male figure shooting a rifle mounted on top; platform has three metal bands that lead from figure down to front metal plate that has engraved team name. Reverse has metal maker plate at bottom center.DimensionsHeight x Width x Depth: 16.188 x 12.063 x 4.063 in. (41.1 x 30.6 x 10.3 cm)
InscriptionsBacker has medallion at top center with text at center "WPIAL" and at bottom "WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA / INTERSCHOLASTIC ATHLETIC LEAGUE".

Backer has plate in viewer's bottom left corner with engraved text "19 / TEAM / M.A. GRUEN / J. EBNER / N. FAWCETT / B. EVANS / C. HARMAN / B. CERRA / T. BUSCH / G. FUNK / N. WILSON / D. DARSIE" and plate in viewer's bottom right corner with engraved text "60 / RECORD / SCORE / MUNHALL 998 / MT. LEBANON 995 / COACHES / J.S. WILSON / T.T. CHARLTON".

Plate on front of central platform has engraved text "RIFLE".
MarksReverse has metal plate at bottom center with text "BALFOUR / A PRODUCT OF THE / L. G. BALFOUR CO. / ATTLEBORO, MASS. / KNOWN WHERE EVER THERE / ARE SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES".
Historical NotesWPIAL Rifle Champion trophy awarded to Munhall High School in 1960. Label TextMunhall captured their first PIAA championship in 1942, scoring a near-perfect 999 out of 1,000 points. Between 1942 and 1969 they won 20 state titles. This team went on to win the national championship, with eight girls placing in the top eight spots. The 1960 team, made up of 10 girls and two boys, won the WPIAL championship for the 14th time in 1960 with a perfect score of 1,000. Seven girls from the team, Dottie Darsie, Trilby Busch, Nancy Wilson, Mary Ann Gruen, Barbara Cerra, Christie Harman, and Bronwyn Evans, shot perfect scores at states to defeat Doylestown for the team’s 14th PIAA title. Courtesy of Mark Fallon and Steel Valley High School General label for both 2025.16 trophies: The sport of rifle does not require athletes to have great physical size or strength. Instead, they need to be focused, precise, accurate, and have breath control to succeed. This makes rifle a sport where girls can compete both with and against boys. Thirty years before the passage of Title IX, in 1942, high school girls in the region first contended for a WPIAL championship in rifle. No team was better than Munhall High School. Founded in 1935, the team captured 23 WPIAL wins between 1942 and 1969. Girls often formed the core of this team, and three of them shot perfect scores in 1936 when Munhall bested 112 teams from 26 states to win its first national junior championship.

Related institution Munhall High School

Related person Trilby Busch

Related person Dottie Darsie

Related person Nancy Wilson

Related person Mary Ann Gruen

Related person Barbara Cerra

Related person Christie Harman

Related person Bronwyn Evans

Related person J. Ebner

Related person N. Fawcett

Related person G. Funk

Related person J. S. Wilson